So Loved
by Wishing On A Dream
Summary: In a dreary, muggle hospital a new life is brought into the world. Harry James Potter is born. Jily.


"Harry, our Harry"

"I cannot believe that we made something so absolutely perfect, so beautiful"

As Lily lay in her mundane and frankly rather run of the mill hospital bed, gently cradling her new-born son, she gushed over him. Her eyes swelled up with tears and she sniffled as she trailed a finger down his warm, rosy cheek. He gurgled and looked up at her before he shifted a little and closed his big, green eyes again for another nap. She didn't blame him. In her opinion, childbirth was just as traumatic for the baby as it was for the mother. She'd had it fairly easily, James had quickly found a charm to relieve some of the pain of childbirth and had effectively cast it on her before he'd taken her into a muggle hospital and she'd given birth to Harry completely naturally. The nurses had found it rather astonishing that this woman had needed no pain relief. But it was not the first time they had seen a woman give birth without modern technology interfering. Little did they know that Lily had cheated, just a bit with the aid of magic.

"He has your eyes, Lily" James whispered to her, pressing a kiss to her cheek and looking adoringly, proudly down at his son.

Lily smiled and nodded. "Oh he does, but he is the spit of you, James Potter" she laughed as she turned her head to smile at her husband. "We have to put him first now, James. He has to come above everything, he has to. We have to keep him safe, at all costs" she said, pressing a gentle kiss to her sleeping baby's forehead. "I understand Lils, you know that I'll protect you both, I'd do anything for the pair of you" James then said, reaching out his thumb and stroking Harry's cheek.

Lily was proud of her husband, extremely proud of the way that he had matured and had grown to be someone she could whole heartedly trust, love and cherish. She loved him, of course she loved him, with her whole heart and more. He had done so much for her, to prove himself to her. He had proved himself more than worthy for her affections. She'd never quite forgiven him for certain things though, for the sly gripes he'd made at people, for the immature behaviour towards her former friend, Severus.

Severus. What a carry on that had been, a carry on that had broken her heart into pieces. She had been devastated, more than devastated when he had called her a mudblood. But it wasn't just that, she wasn't angry at just that. He had changed, he had been mingling with people he shouldn't have been and he hadn't promised her that he'd stop. That he'd go back to being the boy she knew, that he'd stop getting himself into trouble. She would never forgive him for being so interested in such a horrific, nasty cause. She had cared about him, so much. And she still did, in a way. She thought about him, she often wondered how he was getting on, where his life had gone. She knew he worked at Hogwarts. A teacher, the last thing she'd ever imagined for him. But at least it was something stable. She'd occasionally purposefully passed his house whilst back staying with her parents. The redhead had wondered where he was then. Whether they would bump into each other, what she would say to him, what he would say to her. They had grown apart, it was as simple as that. But in her mind, reconciliation was never truly off of the cards for the pair of them. She could never abandon a friendship like the one that they had shared, never truly. In her heart, there was guilt. Guilt for letting him go the way that she had done, for knowing he was more upset than she was about things and just letting him be, for leaving him alone. For Lily had always promised him that she would never leave him alone, and she had done.

"We can christen him as soon as possible, I'll let Sirius know and he can be there" James said quietly to his wife, she nodded and smiled at him reassuringly. They both looked down to their son again and Lily felt the tears trail down her cheeks. "I want him to have a good life, James. I don't want him to grow up scared, I don't want that for him. I want him to have a good, healthy and happy life. We have done the right thing, James. We're doing the right thing. We're fighting this, we're fighting to make sure that our boy doesn't grow up in the grip of a terror" she whispered, closing her eyes and holding Harry gently as close as she could to her body.

When she had found out she was pregnant with Harry, it had been a mix of both shock and elation. They hadn't wanted to bring a child into this, however they had wanted a child and so were taking no precautions, and she should have known the inevitable consequences really.

They went into hiding in the fourth month of her pregnancy, and they were still living that way. But she had faith, she had absolute faith that they would be okay. That they could get through this and a sense of normality would finally emerge again. She'd never regret turning down joining the cause of evil, she'd never regret choosing good over evil. It was just the way that she was, not a bad bone resided in her body.

It wasn't an ideal way to live, and it was scary at times. But it was what they had to do. They had only those they trusted around them, they would be okay.

Later that night, they had both returned home with the baby as Lily had been fine. As they slept, Lily suddenly awoke when her son burst into peals of loud, needy cries. She calmly sat up and climbed out of bed, heading over the moses basket nearby and lifting him up from inside of it. The minute he was in her arms, he calmed down and she smiled.

"You just needed a cuddle, sweetheart" she whispered to him. "I will always be here to do that for you, I will always be here for you. I love you so much, darling" she kissed his cheek and rocked him gently. It was like she'd been gifted this precious bundle of joy and she knew, she knew that the love she felt for him was eternal, it was something that nothing could ever come between. She had loved him since the moment she had found out he was to arrive. Her son was a part of her, and she loved him already with her whole heart. She would do everything in her power in order that he would never come into harm's way.

She felt his tiny fingers grip at her hand and it was like her heart swelled up with pride.

"Everything okay, love?" James grumbled tiredly, he sat up and rubbed at his eyes before reaching out to the bedside table for his glasses, he put them on and looked over at his wife and son. "He's a handsome little chap isn't he?" he laughed and Lily smirked at her husband. "He is indeed, takes after his Dad" she said before placing her baby back into his basket, he whimpered and gurgled a bit but very quickly fell back to sleep, loosening his grip on her fingers as he did so.

As Lily lay back in bed with her husband, she turned onto her side and looked into his eyes. "James, I'm scared" she admitted, biting down hard on her lower lip and closing her eyes sadly. "Lily, Lily listen" James whispered, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close to his body. She felt his warmth and gripped onto him for comfort, sniffling a little. "We'll be alright, we will come out of this. We will ensure that good is done, we'll do our part anyway. Harry, Harry is our world now and that's never going to change. I know you're scared about something happening to us and him, but we cannot live like that. We cannot live in constant fear or we'll go mad. We have live as normally as we can. We have to, Lils" "I understand, I know" she whispered, kissing at his neck slowly as she wrapped an arm around him and snuggled up to him a little more. "I love you, Mrs Potter" "I love you too, Mr Potter"

"Blimey, how much did he weigh?" Sirius asked, holding the baby at arm's length before bringing him in closer and taking a good look at him. "Blo-" "Sirius" Lily warned before he swore, her son may not have been able to understand that sort of language, but she didn't want it around him. "And he was eight pounds and five ounces if you so wish to know. He's a fairly.. big baby, but not too big" she laughed as she twiddled her thumbs nervously, she hated him being out of her arms and it was hard to let somebody else have a hold of him, especially someone who clearly did not know how to hold a new-born properly. "Well, Harry. You are going to go very far in life with parents like these, trust me on that one" Sirius said, the baby watched him on and off, blinking as he held out his little arms and kicked out his legs tiredly. "Oh Merlin, Lily, take him back, I think he's done something suspicious in his nappy" the man said quickly passing the baby over to Lily whom smirked and nodded obligingly, taking her son out of the room to change him.

"She's taken so well to this" James said softly to Sirius once she'd left the room, he was pacing, walking slowly up and down their small living room. "I can just tell she's going to be an incredible Mother to him. I want to be the best Dad I can be. I love him, I've never felt this type of love before. You'll understand.. someday.. if you can persuade, or bribe, some poor woman to take you on" James teased his best friend and got a playful punch in return. "In all seriousness though, nothing is going to happen to them. I'm going to protect them, I will always protect them"

Fifteen months later…

"Harry, it's time for bed" Lily smiled at her one year old, he looked at her and giggled and she tickled his belly, she had been about to speak when James stood up from his armchair and glanced out of the window, he appeared frozen. "James, wh-" she started but was interrupted by her husband. "Lily, upstairs now, take him upstairs now!" James shouted, Lily screamed, panicked as she stumbled to get up, she made sure that Harry was close to her as she headed out of the room and she rushed up the stairs; not thinking that that would be the last time she'd see her husband. When she felt that presence, her whole body felt cold. And when she heard those fatal words, saw the flash of light. She felt numb. James, her James. She ran into the bedroom and placed her son into his cot. This was it. This was it now. What could they do? She slid to the floor on her knees and held onto his cot. "Harry, look at Mum. Look at Mama" she whispered to him, her one year old watched her curiously, sniffling and he was quite clearly distressed. That broke her heart, which was already shattered enough from the clear death of her husband. She knew she didn't have much time, but she had to speak to him. "Mama loves you, Dada loves you. We love you so much, Harry. You have to be brave, and you have to be so strong. You have to be so, so strong. You are so loved, Harry. I promise you, you are so loved" her eyes swelled up with tears as she spoke, he reached out to her and whimpered, but it was then that she turned, screaming as he came in. She stood up, scrambling to her feet as she stood in front of the cot.

"You are not taking him. Don't hurt him, kill me. Not him, never him. Kill me instead" she pleaded as strongly as she could, as he raised his wand, she knew what was to happen and she tried to calm herself down. Her last thoughts were of Harry, her James. She felt the force of the spell and then black, everything went black.

The room stayed still as Voldemort raised his wand to the boy, whom was simply staring up at him, scared by the sight of this stranger and extremely distressed by the sight of his Mother on the floor. "Avada Kedavra!" the Dark Lord yelled, what would usually happen.. did not happen. He stared at the boy who slowly started to cry, yelping as he pointed to his Mother's corpse.

When the baby next looked up, the stranger was no longer there. He gripped onto the bars of his cot and looked towards his Mother, pointing, shoving his arm through the gap and unclenching his little fist. He tried to grab at her and was unsuccessful. "Mama. Mama" he repeated, over and over and over again but there was no response. He soon quietened, sitting in his crib, when he heard movement. "Dada" he cried, but he was confused by this new presence in the room. He gripped at the bars of his cot again and leaned forward, tears still falling down his chubby cheeks as he watched the man kneel down to his Mother before holding her. Harry watched as the man turned and looked to him and he was about to reach out to him when a loud noise was heard. The stranger instantly stood up, reluctantly and ran from the room.

It wasn't long before the small boy had given up his crying and laid down, staring at his Mother's body before two large arms swept him up. He didn't protest, he was too tired and it was comfort for him.

The house lay empty after that what with Hagrid's motorbike revving up and speeding up into the night sky, nothing but remnants of the lives of James and Lily Potter remained.


End file.
